The
Antiquity and Value of Freemasonry
Extracts from the Masonic oration of Dewitt Clinton, made
June, 1806.
THE
CRAFTSMAN - 1866
"Of all institutions which have been
established for the purpose of improving our condition, none are
more beneficial than the charitable ones, and these are
as diversified as the wants and miseries of man.
Among associations of this description, Freemasonry stands
as pre-eminent in usefulness as it is in age. Its origin is lost
in the abyss of unexplored antiquity. No historical records,
no traditionary accounts can point out the time, the place, or the
manner of its commencement. While some have endeavored to discover its footsteps
among the master-builders and artists engaged in the construction of the Jewish
Temple: others have attempted to trace it to the Eleusinian mysteries, which are
said to have taught the immortality of the soul, and other sublime truths of
natural religion. Some again have ascribed its rise to the sainted heroes of the
Crusades, while others have endeavored to penetrate the mysteries of the Druids,
and to discover its origin among the wise men of that institution. Amid this
uncertainty, which must ever result from the absence of written history, our
safest course is to avoid a particular conclusion, and rest satisfied with the general conviction
that our Society is the most ancient benevolent institution in
the world. It is remarked by an eloquent and profound
delineator of nature, that no other species but that of man is
generally diffused over the globe. The assimilation of his nature
to every clime and country indicates his excellence
and demonstrates his superiority. This remark may be
applied with some modification, to our Institution. While
other societies are either ephemeral in point of duration, or
limited in respect to place, Freemasonry is co-extensive with
the enlightened part of the human race, and has raised
its insignia in every quarter of the globe. Wherever man, in
his cultivated state, fixes his habitation, Freemasonry may
be seen enlightening and consoling him. No diversity of
religion or form of Government opposes barriers to her
progress. Amid the dark clouds of fanaticism and despotism she
may be seen shining with unsullied brightness, diffusing light
and imparting joy. In countries where one man's happiness is
the cause of all men's misery, we observe with
astonishment, the ardor with which our Institution is cultivated,
and the eagerness with which it is embraced by all descriptions
of men; but our astonishment must cease when we reflect
that it inculcates the natural equality of mankind. It declares
that all brethren are upon it level, and admits of no rank
except the priority of merit; while its only aristocracy is the
nobility of virtue. The eagerness, therefore, with which men
resort, in despotic Countries, to the standard of Freemasonry, is
the effort of nature to discover her original rights, and
to surmount the corruptions of society. Amid the
pleasing intercourse of brethren, the artificial distinctions of
rank and office, and the adventitious advantages of wealth, are
lost. Seeing the strong hold which Masonry has upon the
human heart; that it entwines itself with the best sympathies of
our nature, and is approved by the most enlightened faculties
of the mind; that all the terrors of punishment, even the
horrid Inquisition, has not been able to destroy the Institution;
that like the true religion, it has flourished on the
blood-stained soil of persecution - who can fail to realize its
worth? The despotic ruler, perceiving these striking
characteristics of Freemasonry, and despairing of extirpating it,
has endeavored to make it an engine of State, or to regulate it
in a way conformable to his interests; hence he has
frequently descended from his throne, approached with reverential
awe our sacred altars, and mingled freely among
the brotherhood. The beneficent and enlightened ruler,
although clothed with unlimited power, yet anxious for the good
of his subjects, cannot fail of countenancing an institution
calculated to produce so much good to mankind. Hence, from
different motives, and with various views, our society has
been encouraged and fostered in the most ungenial climes.
Its progress in free nations, where law, liberty and good
order prevail, has been singularly great; but in these United
States it has attained an elevation and a Perfection unequalled
in other countries. It travels with our population from
the Atlantic to the Michigan - from the St. Lawrence to
the Missouri; it flourishes in the sequestered hamlet, as well
as in the wealthy city; it is embraced by all descriptions of
men, as a softener of the cares and an improver of the felicities
of life." The National Freemason supplies an
account of a late meeting of an English Provincial Grand Lodge,
at which four Lewises were called to the Grand Master's chair,
and each presented with a Bible, bearing the following
inscription:- "Presented by the Provincial Grand Lodge
of Worcestershire, to a Lewis, who at a Provincial
Grand Meeting held in the city of Worcester, on Thursday, 21st
of June, 1866, for the installation of Albert Hudson Royds,
Esq, as Provincial Grand Master, assisted in carrying the
volume of the Sacred Law in Procession from the Guildhall to
the Cathedral. The Provincial Grand Master, in presenting
this the Great Light in Masonry, charges him to give it his
most serious contemplation, and ever to consider it as
the unerring standard of Truth and Justice, and to regulate
his life and actions by the Divine precepts which it
contains." A.H. Royds, Prov. G.M. The Prov. G. Master
thanked the boys for their services that day, and advised them to
remember this: Masons looked upon their life as a ladder, which
had the Bible for its base. They took the Sacred Law as their
foundation, and he hoped they would always do so; that they would
never be ashamed of their profession; and he trusted they would
preserve this holy book to the latest day of their
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